Heresy. Heresy. Everywhere.

What is heresy?

In the christian context, heresy, is any doctrine or belief that contradicts any main doctrine of the christian faith.

In other words, a heresy, strikes at the very foundation of christian belief system, which causes the entire faith to be, in short, false.

A heretic, is one who holds to and teaches heresy.

Heretics usually push their heresies with a smile on their face. You will rarely come across a heretic who is not nice and charismatic.

They are usually good speakers, and quite intelligent.

They are also able to state their heresies in such a way, that on the face of it, looks like they are promoting correct theology.

When a heretic is challenged on their heresy, it's usually the people who the heretic has swayed, that will push back, rather than the main heretic themselves.

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Heresies come in all sorts of shapes. Some are more well known than others. But all do the exact same thing. They undermine the foundations of the belief system that they are contradicting.

Now, it is possible for someone to hold to a heretical belief, and not realise it.

It's this reality that necessitates the acknowledging of two different heretical camps.

In the first camp is the material heretic.

The material heretic is the one who holds to heretical beliefs unknowingly.

It's usually down to being taught incorrectly, or coming to the wrong conclusions based on not having all the information. Or in some cases, simply not knowing a fact. They are usually ignorant of the correct position as well, and often are unaware that christianity (or the respective religion) doesn't actually teach what they believe.

Material heresy, although unintentional, can still have an adverse affect on the life of a believer.
It will cause them to make incorrect decisions, and see God in an incorrect way, etc.
The material heretic, will usually correct their doctrine once they are confronted with the truth and it is explained to them.

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In the second camp, is the formal heretic.

The formal heretic is the one who is usually the one teaching and spreading heresy on a large scale.

They are the ones who know that their position is different, usually are aware of what the opposing position says, but persist in believing and teaching the error - which, in it's logical conclusion, makes christianity (or the relevant religious system) false.

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Here are a couple of heresies.

Around the 3rd century (A.D.), a man named Arius, started to teach and popularise what became known as the arian heresy. The arian heresy is the doctrine that Jesus is not God, but a created being.

Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormonism, both hold to this heresy.

This is a heresy because christianity is completely false if Jesus is not God.

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Another major heresy is one known as Sabellianism. This doctrine was popularised by a man named Sabellius around the 2nd centure (A.D.). It teaches that God is not trinitarian, but instead, unitarian.

It's also known as modalism and unitarianism.

Oneness Pentacostals and the Unitarian Church, both hold to this heresy.

This also makes christianity completely false if God does not exist as one being, but three persons.

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The number of heresies aren't very large, however, because many people are not familiar with church history, heresies tend to reappear after awhile, under a new name, but pushing the same heretical doctrine.

We see this in sabellianism, modalism, unitarianism. All teach the same doctrine, but come under different names at different times. Formal heretics just repackage, rebrand, and use nice sounding words, in order to sell you the same old heresy.

And because many are unaware/unfamiliar, along with the person being so nice and articulate, they are turned into material heretics.

The formal heretics will even go so far as to pit their followers (the material heretics), against the orthodox position, but presenting the orthodox position in a generally false, and negative way - while presenting their heresy in a positive way, generally using buzz/trigger words and/or emotional pleading.

So the theologian needs to be aware of the different heresies, and how to spot them. There aren't any new heresies. All current existing heresies are simply the same ancient ones, but now with bells and whistles attached.

The theologian needs to also be aware to distinguish between a formal heretic and material heretic, as the way you deal with them are different.

The material heretic is generally dealt with in a gentle way. Bringing evidence that their position is wrong, and working with them to see the problem and giving them the truth.

The formal heretic, however, is generally treated harsher. They are usually anathematised quite quickly. This is because there is an allowance for ignorance. But people who aren't ignorant, but are in blatant rebellion, and fighting against the truth - those are people who aren't tolerated.

The letter to the galatian church shows this being played out.

You see a pleading and reasoning with those who are material heretics, while a very hard stance is taken against the formal heretics.

The heresy in question here is from the judaizers.

The judaizers taught that salvation is not by grace alone, but a combination of grace and works. That a person has to perfom some work of the law, in combination with God's grace, in order to be saved.

There are, of course, religious systems today that believe this heresy. One would be the Roman Catholic Church.

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So remember, when discussing theology with someone who we are aware has different beliefs than us, but are supposed to still be christian, it was beneficial to understand what doctrines are at work in the background.